Aphelium Journeys

Esa Pietilä · Skatta String Quartet

2025 · Physical and digital · ABCD 490

Credits

Performers: Esa Pietilä — SaxophoneSkatta String Quartet
Composers: Esa Pietilä

About this release

Aphelium Journeys is a bold and poetic journey through musical space through three chamber music works — not only in physical or cosmic dimensions, but also in the terrain of emotion and artistic maturation. Each piece reflects a stage of maturation: from elemental contrasts (Blue, Black & Sun), to inner depth (Valleys of Soliloquy) and finally to passionate fulfillment (Blazing Flames). The trilogy consists of two string quartets and one saxophone quintet. Esa Pietilä's kinetically oriented musical language moves at the extremes of color, gesture and inner resonance. The music is bold and intimate — at times intense, at times quiet — and strives for a voice that has matured through distance. Just as the aphelion is the farthest point of an orbit from the Sun, these works also revolve around moments of emotional brightness — found not at the core, but at the edge, where the light is weak but the vision is sharp.

Tracks

ICONS OF BLUE, BLACK & SUN, String Quartet No. 2 (2022) (Fennica Gehrman)
1.I. Bluecomp. Esa Pietilä (b. 1964)ISRC FIABA25001926:40
2.II. Blackcomp. Esa Pietilä (b. 1964)ISRC FIABA250019310:14
3.III. Suncomp. Esa Pietilä (b. 1964)ISRC FIABA25001945:19
VALLEYS OF SOLILOQUY, String Quartet No. 3 (2025) (Fennica Gehrman)
4.I. Murmurs in Shadowcomp. Esa Pietilä (b. 1964)ISRC FIABA250019512:17
5.II. Folded Lightcomp. Esa Pietilä (b. 1964)ISRC FIABA25001964:37
6.III. The Distant Voicecomp. Esa Pietilä (b. 1964)ISRC FIABA250019710:03
7.BLAZING FLAMES, for Tenor Saxophone and String Quartet (2018) (Fennica Gehrman)comp. Esa Pietilä (b. 1964)ISRC FIABA250019827:21

Reviews

Sävellyksissään hän ei ole piitannut genrerajoista; tyypillisiä ovat olleet pienet kokoonpanot, joissa on voitu toteuttaa sekä jazzille ominaista improvisointia että kamarimusiikillista vuorovaikutteisuutta.
Rondo Classic · Antti Häyrynen · January 9, 2026
Read the review (opens in a new tab)